Horseshoe (3 page)

“It was hard not to notice her!”

“Right,” agreed Lisa, “she’s the one who was rude about CARL and fell off her horse.”

“I think she’s wrong about CARL,” Michael said. “I think we’re performing for a good cause. But no, I meant it would be hard not to notice such an attractive girl. And she was certainly well dressed—I mean, her breeches weren’t the cheap kind, if you know what I mean, and her boots looked like they were custom-made. And the way her shirt and earrings coordinated and everything—I really admire a girl with a snappy wardrobe.”

Lisa looked down at her own clothes. Snappy they weren’t. She wore boots and breeches to riding class, but the breeches were old and stained with grass and dirt, and the boots hadn’t been polished in—well, in longer than they should have been. Plus she was wearing the
MANURE MOVERS OF AMERICA
T-shirt her dad had given her for Christmas last year, and it had green stains on her shoulder from where Prancer had nuzzled her. Still, how could Michael judge someone by her wardrobe? It was the sort of thing only Veronica would do. Perhaps, Lisa thought, he and Veronica actually deserved each other.

Michael leaned against a tack trunk and smiled at her. He had a nice smile and good teeth, and he had nice brown hair. It was too bad, thought Lisa, that he was beginning to give her the creeps.

“I have a theory,” he said grandly, “I think it’s just
as easy to love a rich girl as a poor girl. What do you think?”

Lisa smiled but gritted her teeth. “Her name’s diAngelo,” she said. “Veronica diAngelo.”

“DiAngelo,” Michael repeated thoughtfully. “Almost aristocratic, wouldn’t you say?”

Lisa made herself smile once more before hurrying away. Yuck! She couldn’t wait to tell Stevie and Carole about him!

S
TEVIE FUSSED OVER
Belle until the mare’s coat was shining. Seeing a piece of hay floating in Belle’s water bucket, Stevie fished it out and brought Belle fresh water and scrubbed the bucket out while she was at it. Once Belle was completely cooled from her ride, Stevie gave her a bucket of grain. Then, sure there was nothing more she could do for her horse, Stevie headed toward Max’s office for the Horse Wise meeting.

Halfway there, she stopped and spun on her heel. That Veronica! Stevie wouldn’t have believed her eyes, except that it had happened so many times before. Garnet stood in her stall, steaming, sweating, and fully tacked. Her water bucket was empty and she hadn’t been given any dinner. Her hayrack was empty too.

“You poor horse,” Stevie muttered. “You don’t deserve her—she doesn’t deserve you. One of these days you’ll get tangled up in the reins, the way she just dumps you in your stall.”

While she talked, Stevie had been rapidly untacking the mare. Garnet sighed in relief when Stevie undid the tight girth, and nosed Stevie’s arm while Stevie unbuckled the bridle.

“You sweet mare,” Stevie said. She gave Garnet a vigorous if quick grooming, and refilled her water and hay. Lastly, she gave Garnet the same amount of grain she had just given Belle.

Garnet drank some water and slobbered on Stevie, as if in appreciation. “I get so mad at her when she does this to you,” Stevie told her. “Honestly, I wish I knew a way to pay her back.”

A
FEW MINUTES
later, the last members of Horse Wise were crowding into Max’s office. Standing at the front with Max was a tall, dark-haired woman they’d never seen before. Max smiled as Stevie, the last rider inside, shut the door and squeezed herself onto a space on the floor in between Carole and Lisa.

“I had to take care of her horse for her!” Stevie hissed indignantly. Her friends nodded sympathetically. They knew without asking who Stevie meant.

“Come to order,” Max said, and the riders quieted. “Today I thought we should see firsthand why we’re performing this drill. We’ve all worked hard for the past few weeks, and now here’s our chance to see what
it’s really about. It’s my pleasure to introduce to you Dr. Takamura, from the County Animal Rescue League.”

The woman smiled and stepped forward. “Most people just call me Doc Tock,” she said, smiling at her own funny nickname. “It’s really a pleasure for me to come here today. I always enjoy getting a chance to tell people about the work we do at CARL, but I enjoy it even more when I’m talking to a group of young people who love animals as much as I know all of you do.

“I’m a veterinarian—a small-animal veterinarian. That means that I limit my practice to animals like dogs, cats, rabbits, and guinea pigs. Because of CARL, I also work with quite a lot of small wildlife, such as raccoons, squirrels, and foxes. I do some work with birds, but I’m not qualified to take care of protected species like eagles or falcons. We have another vet who does that at CARL. I also don’t do exotics like zoo animals, nor do I treat large animals like horses or cows.”

May Grover raised her hand. “Do you know Judy Barker? She’s our vet.” Judy took care of all the Pine Hollow horses.

Doc Tock laughed. “Yes, Judy is a friend of mine. Like me, she has her own practice, but volunteers
once a week at CARL. Judy’s our equine expert. We always call her whenever we get a horse in—which isn’t often. Let me tell you about the sort of animals we usually see. Could somebody please turn off the lights?”

Lisa jumped up to hit the switch, and Max pulled down the window shades. Doc Tock turned on a slide projector. The first picture was one of a small redbrick building. “This is the home of the County Animal Rescue League—better known as CARL. We’re fortunate to have our own site, with two acres of outdoor cages, dog runs, and a small paddock. Inside the building”—she switched to a slide of a young woman holding a cat outside a row of cages—“we have a reception room, several treatment and holding rooms, and a full small-animal surgery. The whole facility was funded by donations over several years, and we continue to rely entirely on donations of time, goods, and money.

“Many people volunteer at CARL,” she said, smiling at the group. “Many companies give us medicine and vaccines at cost or free, and a local grocery store chain keeps us supplied with dog and cat food. But we still need cash donations to maintain and run the facility.

“That, of course, is not the important thing about CARL. The important thing is the animals we help.
Let me introduce you to a few friends of mine.” She clicked the slide projector again, and a picture of a yellow dog with a bright, happy face appeared on the screen.

“Ohh!” said several members of Horse Wise.

“This is Champ. He’s our mascot,” explained Doc Tock. “Champ has been living at CARL for six years, ever since he was badly injured in a car accident and left on the roadside to die. One of our volunteers found him and brought him in. He’s perfectly healthy now, and we could easily find him an adoptive family, but his recuperation took so long that we all fell in love with him and none of us wanted to give him up. He’s the only permanent resident at CARL. He’s a real sweetheart.

“We do sometimes get called to take care of a domestic animal who’s been injured, like Champ, but more often our dogs and cats are actually brought in by their owners. Sometimes people overestimate the amount of attention and care a pet needs. Or they buy a cute puppy, but they aren’t prepared when it grows up to be a hundred-pound dog.”

Doc Tock showed a slide of a mother cat surrounded by kittens. “This cat is a perfect example,” she said. “She’s a very nice cat, but the owners never had her neutered, and they let her out to roam every
night. She’d had kittens five times, they told us, and this time they brought her in to CARL to give birth because they were so tired of her having kittens. It never occurred to them to do something about it before she became pregnant!

“The cat had six very cute kittens. We managed to find good homes for them all, but it wasn’t easy—there are too many kittens born around here and not enough people that want to keep them. The cat’s owners then came and wanted her back, but we made them agree to neuter her and we performed the surgery before we gave her back to them.”

Meg Durham raised her hand. “Doesn’t neutering hurt the cat?” she asked.

Doc Tock shook her head emphatically. “No. The animal doesn’t understand what it’s missing, and the surgery is routine and very safe. Look at it this way. Thousands of unwanted cats and dogs are put to sleep every year. By neutering your pet, you are actually saving lives. Does that make sense?” The members of Horse Wise nodded.

“Good. Neutering and vaccinating pets are both very important, and we try hard to educate the public about these procedures. That’s one of our many goals. But CARL is the County Animal
Rescue
League. A lot of what we do involves actually rescuing animals
from dangerous or abusive situations. Some people”—her voice tightened—“some horrible people should never be allowed near animals. Here’s a dog that was brought in six months ago. He was removed from his home when a neighbor called the sheriff about him. We get a lot of cases that way.”

The photograph made the Pony Clubbers gasp. The dog, a long-haired Irish setter, was nothing but skin and bones. His ribs showed plainly under his thin, matted coat, and his dark eyes looked toward the camera with despair.

“He’d been kept chained in a concrete pen that was never cleaned. His water was soiled and he was hardly given enough food to keep him alive. You can’t see by the picture, but his feet and haunches were covered with open sores from lying in filth for so long. The owners weren’t trying to punish him—they just didn’t bother to take care of him.”

Carole felt tears come to her eyes. She couldn’t believe that anyone would allow a helpless animal to suffer so. She glanced at Stevie, who looked horror-struck. “Unbelievable,” Stevie whispered.

“We can’t save every animal that we find,” Doc Tock said. “Unfortunately, some die despite our best efforts, and others reach us in such bad shape that the
only merciful thing to do is put them out of their misery. But this dog had a happy ending.”

She switched to the next slide. The same dog, his coat grown full and luxurious, romped on a grassy lawn with two small boys. His tail was a wagging blur and his eyes were bright with joy—as were the eyes of the two little boys.

“After two months in our care he was released to a wonderful family,” explained Doc Tock. “At the time he was still timid and rather withdrawn, but after another two months the family sent us this picture. This dog is an example of the sort of thing we do best: rescue an animal from a harmful situation and give him a chance to live out his life the way he should.”

Lisa felt a great lump in her throat. She had never seen an abused animal before—looking at the “before” and “after” pictures of the Irish setter made her realize for the first time that the work CARL was doing absolutely needed to be done.

“We also take care of injured wild animals,” Doc Tock continued. “Here, for example, is a picture of a turtle who was hit by a car. The family that hit it didn’t mean to hit it, and they brought it in to us right away. Fortunately, we were able to heal him and release him back into the wild.

“And this slide shows a family of baby birds. These
infants—robins, although you can’t tell in the photograph—were left helpless when their mother was killed by a cat. We were able to raise them and later release them outside our facility. We still see them flying around occasionally.”

Doc Tock showed them several more slides of different animals brought in to CARL. She explained in detail the care each received. “That’s all I have to show you,” she concluded. “I hope this gives you a little taste of what we do at CARL. Thank you for your attention, and remember, all of you are welcome to come visit us at any time. We’re open every day until seven
P.M
. We’ve always got a vet on call for after-hours emergencies.

“I’m headed off to CARL now. We’ve got an injured skunk that I think is just about ready to have babies. But first, do you have any questions?”

Polly Giacomin shot up her hand. “What else can we do to help you?” she asked. Several people nodded their heads in agreement. After seeing the slides, all of the Pony Clubbers wanted to help.

“I think what you’re doing now is pretty wonderful,” Doc Tock said. “Your drill will raise awareness about CARL as well as raise money for us. Beyond that, make sure you treat your own animals with love and care. Neuter and vaccinate your pets, and if you
know of an injured or helpless animal, be sure to give us a call.”

Doc Tock held up a warning finger. “That’s important, so I ought to stress it. Be sure to give
us
a call. Don’t attempt to rescue the animal yourselves. Injured animals often lash out at people, and you could be hurt by them or hurt them worse by trying to restrain them. We’re trained to do it, so leave the rescuing to us. Okay?”

“Okay,” everyone said.

“You’ve really been a super group,” she said. “Thank you very much!” As she left the room, Horse Wise applauded her vigorously.

“Well,” said Max, “I don’t think anything I can say right now could top Doc Tock’s excellent presentation. I do still need to discuss the logistics of next weekend with all of you. But it’s well past noon, and I’m starving. Let’s break for lunch and meet back here in one hour. Horse Wise, dismissed!”